Nifty and Sensex close flat; media and FMCG stocks shine, Realty slips

ITC, TCS and Britannia Industries were the top gainers from the Nifty 50 stocks

Market update at 3.30 PM: Indices traded in a range bound manner with strong volatility. Nifty recovered about 80 points from the day’s low to close flat. Sensex ended marginally higher by 22 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap slipped 0.42 per cent and 0.34 per cent respectively.  

Nifty Media was the star performer as it jumped 1.33 per cent and was the top gainer amongst the sectoral indices. FMCG stocks also supported the market, whereas real estate stocks witnessed strong selling pressure. India VIX plunged 2.60 per cent to close at 11.63 level.  

ITC, TCS and Britannia Industries were the top gainers from the Nifty 50 stocks while HDFC Life Insurance, Tech Mahidnra and Adani Enterprises were the top losers for the day.   

Nifty took support at its 200-DMA for three consecutive days. The benchmark index is consolidating in a narrow range with a slight negative bias. However, with key companies like ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and Bajaj Auto set to declare results in the near term, the index is expected to see strongly volatile moves.   

Market update at 11 AM: Indices have been trading on a lower note amid volatility. NSE Nifty 50 index has slipped 0.20 per cent to trade at 17,600 levels and S&P BSE Sensex is down 60 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap have plunged 0.43 per cent and 0.38 per cent respectively.   

Media and Pharma stocks have seen fresh buying interest and are the top performers amongst the sectors. Meanwhile, realty and metals witnessed strong profit booking.  

About 732 stocks are advancing as against 1203 stocks that are declining, thus showing negative market breadth.   

Tech Mahindra, Hindalco and Tata Motors are weak today while stocks like Hero MotoCorp, BPCL and ITC are the top gainers.   

17,600 happens to be a major support level for Nifty from the past few days. Interestingly, this level is also its 200-DMA level. Any fall below this level can be detrimental to the index.   

Market update at 9.35 AM: Indices have been trading on a mixed note at the start of the session. NSE Nifty 50 index is trading flat at around 17,600 levels while Sensex is up 50 points. However, slight weakness is seen across midcap and Smallcap stocks.  

Pharma stocks have seen fresh buying interest while Realty and metals are dragging the markets. India VIX has slipped nearly a per cent.  

Pre-market update:    

Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 110 points or 0.33 per cent to close at 33,786 level. Nasdaq 100 Index closed 0.78 per cent at 12,985 level.  

In global commodities, Gold rallied 0.49 per cent and Silver closed flat. 

Brent crude futures slipped again more than 2.5 per cent. Technically it started to fill the gap on daily charts.  

On Thursday's trading session, FIIs sold Rs 1169.32 crore and DIIs bought Rs 832.72 crore in equity segment. 

In Derivative segment as compared to previous session, Clients and PROs increased their shorts and on flip side, DIIs and FIIs increased their longs with covering their existing shorts marginally. Now FIIs index long position came to 37.90 per cent from 36.02 per cent. 

Now SGX Nifty indicates Nifty is likely to open nearly flat. Yesterday, Nifty closed above the last 3 days low (17,570) which also with a support of 200 DMA and fall below this range may start fresh sell off.